HKW Merkenich is a 16 MW gas power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is operated by RheinEnergie AG. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 17k homes (estimated). It ranks #672 of 1,442 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1965, it is around 61 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, gas supplies about 16.5% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005799.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The public capacity above is the current source-record value. A 2026 tracker candidate lists 128 MW for Merkenich (Nord) power station, but it is not used as the public primary value until scope is verified (unit vs operating vs installed/project total).
Capacity claim grade: B_SCOPE_PARENT_COMPLEX - recommended action: build_parent_complex_model - confidence: not_comparable_without_scope. This follows a claim-based data model: value + scope + source + confidence, rather than silently overwriting records.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000101955); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 16 MW, HKW Merkenich is below the median gas plant in Germany (53 MW). Technically it is described as CCGT; combined-cycle with a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG). Gas plants burn natural gas either in open-cycle turbines for fast peaking, or in combined-cycle units that recover exhaust heat in an HRSG to reach roughly 55–62% efficiency — the cleanest-burning fossil option.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by RheinEnergie AG.
This gas plant burns natural gas in a turbine — often in a combined-cycle setup — to generate electricity. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 51.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 14% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 57/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
A gas turbine here also runs ~0% below its ISO (15°C) rating at this annual mean (typical CCGT curve, estimate).
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #207 largest gas power plant of 241 in Germany by capacity.
Germany has 241 gas power plants in this dataset, together about 37,245 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 51.0179, 6.964 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
HKW Merkenich is a 16 MW source-record gas power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, commissioned in 1965.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 17,457 homes (estimated).
HKW Merkenich is operated by RheinEnergie AG.
